Alsace and Lorraine

Begining of May ended the routine of constant work... We got a visit from Alka's mother and set out for a 6 day trip through Alzace and Lorraine (with a short stop in Reims and Laon). We stayed in Strassbourg for three days - we dedicated one day to the city and two remaining days for trips to along the wine route and the Vogeses.

First day we visited Obernai, one of the many superbly, disgustingly well preserved medieval cities in Alzace. You can't escape the feeling of being a turist in these cities, which adds some discomfort to the generally pleasant walking among the old, wooden-webbed houses and occasional churches from 12th or 13th century.








Wine route itself also inspires one with a bourgeois feeling about oneself, as you have countless occasions to stop along the way, buy great wine and jams, and admire little villages with less than, say, 4000 inhabitants, but with two 13th century churches. Really something.









One of the nicest cities we visited was Colmar, home-town of the sculpturor who made the statue of liberty in NY. The town has a very big old town, again with the typical white houses criss-crossed with wooden trams.















Second day was reserved for Strassbourg. I won't repeat myself, gives a similar impressions than those mentioned above, only that it is bigger. And yes - it has one of the most awe-inspiring sights we saw on the trip - the UNESCO protected Cathedral of Our lady.














On the third day we had a pleasant walk through the Vogeses - green and bare, with lots of German tourists using the up-ward wind to make fly their small home-made airplanes.
The day was still long enough so we visited some more villages along the wine route - the, as Lonely planet puts it "picture perfect" Keysersberg, Ribeauville and Selestat. All with old town houses from 16,15th century...












The fourth day we spent in Nancy, a city that owns much to the polish king Leszczynski, whose statue adorns the nice, spacious main square, place Stanislas. City is not quite like others in Alsace, probably because of its many Art Nouveau buildings. Three inter-connected squares are also UNESCO protected, although I didn't really see why should they bother that much.






Fifth day was marked by a visit to Verdun, the place of the massacre battle during the 1st World war. Marked by its tragedy, much like the gorod-geroj Stalingrad, the city is still a place of horrible memory for the French.

Sixth day was marked by the marvellous cathedral of Our lady of Reims and its model sister from Laon. Two cities that played an important role in the shaping of the French state, nice old towns, with their cathedrals being the ones to cling in the memory...

Songkran festival

Songkran is the traditional Thai New Year. This is the time for Thais to pay homage to Buddha images, clean their houses, and, mostly, sprinkle water on their elders in a show of respect. That's as far as the traditional concept goes, since anyone who ventures out on the streets is likely to get a thorough deal of water. It's a real water war, whether you actively take part in it or no, you will get as wet as you can anyways.
Actually it all results as good fun, and is also quite welcome at the peak of the hot season.
Supposingly they get reall wild in BKK but we missed that. Since Songkran also means a national holiday (and no school), me, Iskra and Ngadhnjim could't resist in a big hot city and we headed on the Andaman coast. We flew to Phuket and as soon as we left the airport area the splashing began. When you get rid of luggage, wallets, cameras and stick to the basic waterbattle outfit, you can start enjoying the best New Year celebration I've ever seen. I don't know how serious it gets in other places, but Patong beach in Phuket was pretty wild... The following day we took a trip to the Phang Nga bay, on the northern part of the island; it included a stop in a cave-temple full of long-teeth monkeys that looked pretty scary to me (I guess I was the only one who refused to feed them; maybe that's why they were particularly hostile towards me...stupid monkeys).
We visited Koh Pannyi (Sea Gypsy Island), a remarkable village, the whole of it built out over water on stilts and with a giant rock monolith guarding its rear. At lunch time, up to 3,000 tourists on the James Bond Island tours are brought in to eat and shop for handicrafts.
As soon as the tourists leave, the community closes up its restaurants and trinket shops and transforms itself from a tourist trap into a quiet community of fishermen. The "James Bond Island" is not really worth mentioning, but the Phang Nga bay itself offers some really nice sceneries.
We took a ferry to Phi Phi Island which is nicer than I expected it to be- I guess due to all the touristic propaganda...Maybe the secret is to get there in low season. However, the island is REALLY nice, the beaches fantastic, the water transparent and green, just like you see it on the postcards. The most interesting thing was to see how some parts on the north of the island were left almost as the tsunami affected them; the whole Phi Phi was completely under water and you can see the remains of the tourist villages, destroyed roads, broken and stripped-off trees, even on the top of the hill high above the beaches. It's quite stunning and hard to imagine how it must have looked like then.
From Phi Phi the boat took us to Ao Nang beach, which is a central point of the coastal province of Krabi, Thailand. The town consists chiefly of a main street, which is dominated by restaurants, pubs, shops and other commerce aimed at tourists (mostly Scandinavian). On the main beach there are hundreds of longtail boats which offer access to other beaches on the mainland and on nearby islands - Poda and Ckicken Islands, as well as Railey beach. The latter is also a climbing center, as it spreads under high cliffs that give the whole of the Krabi province the distinctive appearance.
Ao Nang itself is nothing special, there's nothing too Thai about it, but it has some really nice seafood restaurants and it's easy to get to Railey and Phra Nang, both of them fabulous. Krabi is certainly one part of Thailand to visit; it's still not too spoiled by mass tourism, the sea is fantastic, the food great, the prices ok.


I guess the photos speak better...

Sukhothai

We arrived in Sukhothai from Chiang Mai and found a place to stay over night in New Sukhothai, which lies about 12 km from the old city. We rented bikes and the next day we were suffering our way (it was a really hot day) towards a new thai cultural experience...
Sukhothai literally means "Dawn of Happiness" and was founded in 1238. It was the capital of Thailand for approximately 120 years, in the 13 and 14th cent.
A characteristic feature of Sukhothai temple architecture is the lotus-bud chedi. It features a conical spire finial on a square-sided structure on top of a three-tiered base.
Inside the city walls are the remains of the royal palace and twenty-six temples. Wat Mahathat occupies the largest section. Many original Buddha images are still present among the ruins, while the original of the "Walking Buddha" (one of the few images of non-sitting or reclining Buddha) is kept in Bangkok National Museum.

















Wat Mahathat
















The walking Buddha in Sukhothai historical park
















Phra Atchana at Wat Si Chum

Up north

We flew to Chiang Mai, the "capital of the north". It's completely different in comparison to BKK chaos - it appears as a charming little town, although it is the largest and most culturally significant city in northern Thailand. Long before the modern influx of foreign visitors, the city served as an important centre for handcrafted goods, umbrellas, jewelry (particularly silver) and woodcarving.

In Chiang Mai there's a large number of temples, literally standing one next to another. They are fine examples of Lanna architecture, very often the buildings are entirely made of teak wood.

What makes the Lanna houses distinguishable from other Thai traditional houses is the two V shaped, hand carved ‘ka lae’ at the sloped roof’s front and back, of which the house takes its name (Ruen Ka-lae). Some believe that the Ka Lae represente a pair of birds perched on the roof to scare away crows which are believed to bring bad luck.

Wat Phrathat Doi Suthep is the most famous temple (although not the nicest, in my oppinion) in the area, standing on a hill to the north-west of the city. This temple dates from 1383. Its builders allegedly chose its site by placing a relic of the Lord Buddha on an elephant's back and letting the elephant roam until it came across a place where it trumpeted and circled before lying down. The onlookers took this as marking an auspicious place to build the temple.

Wat Chiang Man, Wat Phra Singh, Wat Chedi Luang, Wat Ched Yot, Wat U-Mong are just some of the most important innumerable beutiful wooden temples scattered around old Chiang Mai.

The floating market, the River Kwai Bridge and the Tiger temple

Damnoen Saduak is a much more turistic version of the smaller floating market that I visited last month; still it's a nice thing to see, listen to the canal traffic (and it can get really busy, too, almost like Bangkok peak hours!), boat vendors, smell and taste all the nice food that you can get there... We tried the tiny sweet&sour pancakes, they taste a little funny - it is in fact better to just observe how they prepare them. Of course we had a big portion of sticky rice with mango, which tastes like paradise...A boat took us around the busiest canals, it's a nice trip but I guess it's all getting pretty commercial. Stupid souvenirs everywhere and the prices are also somewhat higher than at Thalad Num Aumphawa, which I prefered to Damnoen Saduak.

The Death Railway (The River Kwai bridge)

In 1943 thousands of Allied Prisoners of War and Asian labourers worked on the Death Railway under the imperial Japanese army in order to construct part of the 415 km long Burma-Thailand railway. The black iron bridge ows its fame to several movies and books. It's really nothing special and the War museum nearby is in terrible conditions, but the tiger temple is only half an hour away, so it makes an obligatory stop with all organized tours.

The Tiger Temple

(Wat Pa Luangta Bua Yanasampanno)

is in Saiyok District of Kanchanaburi Province.
Tigers living in this Forest Monastery are brought up by the monks who take care of them since they were cubs. There are 17 tigers at the temple. Seven were orphans rescued from the wild and ten have been breed and born here at the temple. They are Indo-Chinese tigers and they are native to Thailand , Laos , Burma , Cambodia , Vietnam Malaysia and Southeast China .

They have been hand-reared by the monks and have had interaction since they were young cubs. So they have imprinted on humans and have accepted us part of their lives. They are use to people coming to the temple and having photos with. It's really an amazing experience, a part from being the only place in the world where you can actually touch a REAL TIGER. Fantastic!!!

We thought at first that the tigers were drugged and that this is the reason why people can approach them; But the monks assure they are not drugged. Tigers are nocturnal animals, so they sleep during the heat of the day. This means they are more active and hunt at night. Adult tigers are naturally lazier, whereas the cubs are more active and will play if it is not too hot. Ther was a HUGE one, who didn't seem sleepy at all; infact that one we could't caress, nor come close to him...It 's really a special feeling to be able to touch such a majestc animal!!! (although they are not soft at all! It feels like caressing a cow, both for the hair as for the dimensions of the tigers...some of them are really huge.)

Jožko in Bangkok

Finally I'm here!!!
After last 3 crazy weeks in Florence with consequent final aperitivo, I reached Lucija in BKK after a nice journey where I met 2 malesian guys on train and a good italian old man on the flight (he lives between Rome and Bangkok).
The first impressions of Bangkok:
chaotic
smoggy
nice smelling
vivacous
big
hot
city.
I want to enjoy here, I'll have just 2 weeks to understand, to feel and to love or not thai way of life. We'll see...

1° day:
The first day served me for understanding the distances, where things are, etc,etc.
And that's why Lucija brought me on a boat trip to visit the city: watching Wat Arun (or Temple of Dawn), Wat Po and characteristic houses on the river called Chao Phraya.
It was a good first taste of Bangkok, because I had contact with people, see the street's life an starting to listen to "Sawadee kaa" that everybody says.
And I was starting to eat thai or asian food, noodles, sticky rice and, ladies and gentlemen, coconut milk!!!
And I hated everything with coco before!
Amazing Thailand.

In the evening, then, I met Lucija's collegues in an italian (of course!) restaurant with pizza and mozzarella, but I promised myself to eat only local food: it's cheaper and more characteristic than a "real thin italian pizza", come on!
Fortunately I met the best thai girl in Bangkok (secretary in Lucija's school): she's called Win and she's simply crazy!

2° day:
The second day I was alone in the city and I saw the most important and touristic stuff like Wat Po with its Reclining Buddha and Wat Phra Kaew and Grand Palace with its gorgeus and coloured mural paintings: on the wall are represented legends that I can't descrive you (everything is in Thai!) but you admire the difference between black and gold and I assure you that it is simply great.
After a long trip in Chinatown, finally I met Lucija and we went to shopping together. We went to MBK and we had a really good time: after so much culture a good compulsive shopping is what I needed!
I bought two pairs of Diesel jeans for something like 18 euro and I dicover a new mark of clothes: Giordano!!
I warmly recomend it :)
At the end a perfect dinner on tha last floor of MBK with a lot of different cousine: njam!


3° day:
This day started with a visit to the Golden Mount (Phukhao Thong) or Wat Saket where you can have a good view of the city, but there's nothing particular to see inside.
Afterwards we visited most wats (temples) in this area and in particular I found very nice a big swing which is not in use anymore.

Crossing the bridge I went to the top on Wat Arun wich means Temple of the Dawn.
You can only climb the small stairs and see the view of the river that surrounds the old and the real centre of Bangkok and I found it nice to be in the old temple in the middle of big hotels, skytrain and other modern things.
It's like to be in a temple of Ayuttaya or Sukkotay (old cities out of Bangkok) but if you go up (this is the only "wat" that you can climb in Thailand, I suppose) you can come back in reality and understand to be in year 2551: they have another calendar, did you know that!?

After all these stairs, of course you are hungry.
And of course you have to go in Chinatown.
And it's enough walking on the streets and choose everything you want: rice or noodles with chicken, pork, fish or vegetables.
And if italian can stay here without pasta, pizza and limoncello means that it's really a good city. And if you know that there're 330 italian restaurants here, this is a really fucking great city to stay.

4° day:
After an interesting visit to the National Museum, full of Buddha images and huge funeral charriots, we just got lost on the streets of Bangkok like every guide book tells you to do.
In a romantic mood, we decided to go in one of the best restaurant of the city: Supatra River House.
We ate good fish, but, listen to me, don't allow that waiters choose for you: they offer you the worst things that they have, I think.
But the view of the river by night is great and the boat that bring you from one part to the other of the river justify the big bill (for thai standards): something like 15 euro.
Without wine, of course: here the cheapest bottle of wine goes up 10-15 euro!! I miss Chianti...

At the end with my tripod, I decide to make some pictures of Bangkok by night.
I like my camera and my Lucija also: this picture on the right is like an H&M commercial spot.
Don't we look like two models?

Good night and see you tomorrow.